By Awad Rajoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Palestine called Monday for holding an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League to discuss Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
“The meeting was called amid a genocide being committed against the Palestinian people and rising attacks and terrorism by settlers in the occupied West Bank,” Palestinian delegate to the pan-Arab body Muhannad al-Aklouk told the state news agency Wafa.
Parallel to its brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip since Oct 7, 2023 following a Hamas attack, the Israeli army has escalated raids and arrests in the West Bank, including the occupied East Jerusalem.
At least 486 Palestinians have been killed and 4,900 others injured in attacks by Israeli army forces and illegal settlers in the West Bank since then, according to the Health Ministry.
The destructive offensive on Gaza has resulted in more than 34,100 deaths, most of them children and women, along with massive destruction and famine that has killed children and the elderly, according to Palestinian and international data.
Israel continues its war despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. Tel Aviv is also facing charges of "genocide" before the International Court of Justice.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar